Commonwealth Park Playground

I'm a writer of interactive and normal novels including steampunk fantasy app books set mainly in Australia. ifdb.tads.org/search?searchfor=author%3AFelicity Banks

Published December 28th 2012

It can be anything your kids want it to be

In Canberra, there are a few truly awesome playgrounds that are spoken of by locals with a happy sigh and a faraway gaze. This one may be my favourite. We call it the castle.

The majority of the playground is actually underground, where children crawl through round stone tunnels and emerge in unexpected places. It's one of those playgrounds where you choose what risks to take as you climb over the outside.

This is my six-year old nephew, who knows how it's done, and my nine-month old daughter. The foam floors are a lot easier on knees, and make it a nice place for babies (although hazardous for toddlers, who have all the physical coordination and none of the self-preservation).

The playground is located in Commonwealth Park, on the CIT side (there's a wonderfully echoey tunnel underpass from the CIT carpark). When Floriade is happening each Spring, it is a great not-quite-as-crowded meeting place for a pre-walk picnic almost within sight of one of the entrances.